I'm guessing a lot of money for one. I'm also thinking that tablets produced by phone manufacturers tend to be sold by phone companies with the idea that they want to tie you into their cellular plan(s).

I'm guessing a lot of money for one. I'm also thinking that tablets produced by phone manufacturers tend to be sold by phone companies with the idea that they want to tie you into their cellular plan(s).

I think new tablets like the Lenovo A1 Ideapad ($199) and some like the older Archos (a good French brand you can get on Amazon) (less than $199) cost no more than the Kindle Fire ($199), and have nothing to do with cell phone service providers.

Not being very techy I no clue How they rate..... SOOOO has any one used these of other Tablets?

Basicly what I want is something I can Read ebooks...watch movies in MP4/AVI formate surf net check email Hook my 1TB external hd up to put stuff on & use stuff I store on it & hookup to my TV play games on! Also being able to conect my camera to & downloading pic & conect to printer to print them! This is basicly all I use my laptop for & its getting up there. So yes this would be a replacement.

Being on fixed income...$200 would be my limit on buying Tablet or even Fire for that matter.

Last edited by Katie1; 10-12-2011 at 02:19 PM.
Reason: Adding information on what I looking for!

Even though the tablet is based on Android it will not feel like an Android device. Also tablets run a modernized OS that is designed with tablets in mind.

With the Fire you can browse, watch movies, and read like any old tablet. However you will be limited to Amazon content and the amazon appstore. In addition their default browser will run through a proxy and collect information about your usage. Access to the Market will require a hack and it is unknown if Amazon will allow apps to be installed outside of the appstore.

Most tablets you will have access to all of Google content the Google Market with it pre-installed. To get access to other stores all you have to do is install the Amazin appstore and GetJar.

Since the market is neutral you will have access to Amazon books, B&N books, Sony, Google, etc...

Also tablets come in all size and from different manufactures. My opinion is you stay with the higher end models as the experience will be much better.

The only two lower end tablets that have caught my eye is the Lenovo A1 and the T-mobile Springboard. @ $200+

The Samsung Tab and Toshiba Thrive however are excellent tablets that start at the $400+ range

Not being very techy I no clue How they rate..... SOOOO has any one used these of other Tablets?

Basicly what I want is something I can Read ebooks...watch movies in MP4/AVI formate surf net check email Hook my 1TB external hd up to put stuff on & use stuff I store on it & hookup to my TV play games on! Also being able to conect my camera to & downloading pic & conect to printer to print them! This is basicly all I use my laptop for & its getting up there. So yes this would be a replacement.

Being on fixed income...$200 would be my limit on buying Tablet or even Fire for that matter.

At the moment you will not be able to find a tablet that does all that for $200. I don't know much about the Coby. I heard it was a good low end tablet. But it the screen is resistive and WVGA. For me it's worth paying the extra $50-$70 and get the A1. It will have a multi-touch capacitive IPS screen. So you will have a great screen quality vs okay. Also most resistive touch tend to be single touch so pinch to zoom will not work.

Also when you say "Connect to a printer" is the printer on the net or do you mean connect a printer USB cable and print?

USB or WiFi/bluetouth [not sure what they called] printer.... We need a new printer I been leaning towards one with WiFi/bluetooth thingy. Mostly cause I dont think we need 2 seperate printers. Conect direct to my sons desktop & when I need it use the WiFi/bluetooth for my laptop or tablet. Maybe I could use some advice on this also LOL

Get the WIFI. If you want to print from an android device look for one that has ePrint technology or equivalent--ePrint is an HP solution. The technology emails the document you want to print to an HP server then back to your printer, in a printer friendly format. It avoid the need to install a print driver on your android device.

This was a sale a few months back when HP decided to get out of the tablet business. It was a $500 device that went on sale for $100. It went from being one of the worst selling device to the hottest selling device.

Really depends on what your main purpose is. If it meets the Amazon requirements -- e.g. primarily for reading, video and mp3s then I don't think you're going to beat the Kindle Fire. If you want a Camera, GPS (e.g. google maps etc.) you should consider a generic Android tablet. I think you'll find the low-end ones will be limited in some way (no camera, storage, sd card slot etc) and be very similar to a Kindle Fire or a Nook.

I have a Xoom and love it, but I've also got a Fire on order and look forward to using it extensively around the house (or work) for reading.

Katie1, I'm really glad you started this thread because I've been comparing the Fire to other tablets in that price range too.

Lenovo's A1 IdeaPad looks interesting, but I'm undecided whether a 7" screen is going to suit my needs. It seems like it would be too small for comfortable web browsing and movie-watching, but I'm not sure. I would be using the tablet mostly at home, so portability isn't a big consideration for me. I've read reviews that say the Lenovo comes with SD card storage, but there is no mention of that on Lenovo's website. That's an important feature, so why isn't it listed in the specs?

I'd be interested to know what you tech gurus think of the Le Pan TC 970 9.7" Multi-Touch LCD Google Android Tablet PC. It's priced at $250. I'm wary of purchasing from a company that isn't well known, but this tablet does get excellent reviews. It's currently Android 2.2 (Froyo) but I've read that there are plans to update to Ice Cream Sandwich soon. It comes with only 2 GB but you can use a micro SD card up to 32 GB. Here is LePan's website. There's a User Manual under "Support|Documentation."

I'd like to spend less than $270 on a tablet, and I'm leaning toward a 10" screen, but I'm still considering 7" too. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

WOW X without Reading the Article you came to a Quick statement! 1 The Article states ALL you said & That it happened in Aug! 2 Article Now says HP is selling Another 200,000 for $99 16g or $149 for 32g To be Released OCT 24th!! I am thinking these were already in the contract to be made......

DREAMWRITER OK You lost me What is Gingerbread ... Which is what the FIRE has & Now you added another Trem Ice Cream ???
Cripe I getting hungry hehehehe

Not saying the FIRE is out.... But I dont see anyway to put pic from my camera on it. Which means I still need my laptop ugh

I was very disappointed by early reports (rumors) of the Fire, but the only serious issue with the actual device is the lack of a micro-SD slot. I think this was a major mistake on Amazon's part.

We won't know for sure until the device is in our hands, but, if reports (from Amazon sources) that sideloading apk's is possible out of the box are true, it is apparently a completely standard Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread) tablet with limited hardware (no gyroscope, no camera, no WAN, no Bluetooth, no microphone, no GPS, and no micro-SD). The Fire skin is relatively comprehensive, but it is only a skin over standard Android. If a 7" Android Gingerbread tablet makes any sense at all, then the Fire is a good baseline and the tricked out web browser might be the killer app (if it works well in practice).

To my mind the viable tablet alternatives to the Fire run Honeycomb (Android for tablets) on 7" to 9" screens, see for example from today Engadget: Archos 80 G9 review. Bigger screens, more hardware, potentially better Android - but at a higher cost. There are obviously plenty of alternatives with a 10" screen, but I put them in a different category.

Well, that's just killed the Fire for me! After reading all this I think I will stick with my original choice of the Asus Transformer.

All depends on your needs. The Fire is NOT a generic Android tablet. It is limited in functionality but should make a wonderful media consumption device - books, video, music particularly if you use and want what Amazon offers.